After the warnings – full blown famine

     

After the warnings – full blown famine
 

Gaza
UN chief: "Full-blown famine in northern Gaza"
   

Gaza

UN chief: "Full-blown famine in northern Gaza"

Noam Bertling

Updated 11.30 | Published 10.04

After the UN's earlier warnings, there is now famine in northern Gaza.

That's what Cindy McCain, head of the UN's food agency World Food Program (WFP), says.

- There is a famine, a full-blown famine in the north and it is moving further south, says Cindy McCain to NBC.

It is in a previously released clip of an interview with Cindy McCain where she comments on the situation to NBC.

- There is famine, fully developed famine in the north and it is moving further south.

She is the head of the World Food Programme, which is one of the UN's leading agencies for fighting hunger. Thus, she also becomes the most prominent international actor to date who describes the situation in that way.

- I really hope that we can give them food, especially in the north, in a faster way, but that we also include water, hygiene items and medicine, she says.

Already in March, the UN agency FAO warned that famine in Gaza ”is at the door”. At the time, it was believed that a famine would occur in northern Gaza within two months. This came after a report that pointed out that at least half of the population of the Gaza Strip was going through "catastrophic hunger". Even then, the situation in northern Gaza was said to be unprecedented.

- We have not experienced that 50 percent of an entire population is covered by near-starvation levels before, says Beth Bechdol, deputy director at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization FAO.

Even Unicef, the UN's children's fund, announced in March that 80 000 children were heading for starvation.

In March, the UN agency FAO warned that famine "is at the door" in Gaza. Photo: Abdel Kareem Hana / AP

The US does not want to see invasion

At the same time, the US says no to a ground invasion of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, according to AFP. .This despite the fact that Israel has clearly signaled that such an invasion is underway.

According to information to the AP, earlier this week Israel informed about its plan for how civilians are to be evacuated from Rafah, which did not affect the US position on an invasion.

- We cannot accept a large military effort in Rafah because the damage it would cause is beyond what is acceptable, says US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at an appearance in Arizona, according to AFP.

           

A completely destroyed building in Rahah. Photo: Ismael Abu Dayyah / AP

Hamas sends delegation - to discuss the hostages

The Times of Israel reports, citing Reuters, that the terrorist group Hamas will send a delegation to Cairo on Saturday. There they will negotiate about the hostages the group took after the terrorist act on the seventh of October.

The delegation is expected to come up with a response to the proposal put forward after the last negotiation. Then it was said, according to the BBC, that there would be a 40-day ceasefire and an exchange between Hamas hostages and Palestinian prisoners.

CIA Director Bill Burns arrived in Cairo earlier on Saturday, drawing frustration from an Israeli government official. That Bill Burns arrived before Hamas increases expectations for a settlement, when in fact it may still be far away, says the representative in Israel's Channel 12. At the same time, the United States is intensively striving for a settlement.

FACTS

UN definition of famine

At least one in five households lacks enough food.

30 percent of all children are acutely malnourished.

Two out of every 1,000 people die of starvation every day.

Cindy McCain.